Rudolf Schenker is the guitarist and founder of the German hard rock band, Scorpions, born in 1977. His titles have been part of an essential playlist for us for a very long time thanks to famous songs like No One Like You in 1982, but also thanks to two ballads Still Loving You in 1984 and Wind of Change in 1990. Scorpions has already sold more than 100 million records worldwide with 19 studio albums, 6 live albums, all in 50 years of career.
In 2010, its members began telling us that they were going to stop. They went back on their decision and it gives, even today, this Friday February 25, 2022, the release of a new album, Rock Believer and a world tour with seven visits to France.
franceinfo: This new album was a nice way to tell people who thought Scorpions was over, that it’s not true, but also a nice way to say that rock is not dead?
Rudolf Schenker: When we announced this world tour, we realized that today, we are addressing three generations. And for us it became clear with this album, Rock Believer, that you have to believe in rock. On February 11, 50 years ago, we released an album. We’ve been recording albums for 50 years!
When I say we’re going on a world tour, some people laugh, but hey, we built the soundtrack to the most peaceful revolution in the world. It’s a wind of change blowing, and we’re part of it. We are not just spectators. In 1989, we participated in a peace festival with Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe! One year later, Wind of change became a hymn and then we were invited by Gorbachev. So, it’s peace! The Scorpions in the Kremlin, it’s incredible! We believe in it, that’s our story. Do you see how much we believe in what we do?
The particularity of the group Scorpions and what made your international fame, it is also to have known how to mix very hard titles and ballads. This is where the success of Still loving you or of Wind of change. Still loving you is engraved in you.
“If you make something your own, that thing will live in you and then you will live for it.”
Rudolf Schenkerat franceinfo
I actually talked to Jimmy Page, the Led Zeppelin guitarist I’ve met several times. And in Tokyo, I took the time to tell him that stairway to Heaven of Led Zeppelin, it is still a monument, what a source of inspiration! And me, I said to myself: I want to make a song comparable to stairway to Heaven. And it worked.
It’s crazy how it affects you. This album represents all these stories, all your successes, your 50 years of career?
“We all have a vocation, a vision, a desire, a passion, but you have to find it. You don’t have to be lazy, you have to make the effort to find it within yourself.”
Rudolf Schenkerat franceinfo
Yes, that’s why I have tears in my eyes. It’s been 50 years and we have memories, usually I’m looking to the future, but we talk about that time, we talk about all that and I must say it brings back so many memories. I’m crying, I can’t take it anymore. My father told me something. My mother wanted me to learn a trade and told me: “Music is not a profession“I was looking to the right, to the left and my father said to me: “Rudolf, don’t put yourself in too hard a situation. Do what you want to do. Have fun and the money will come“. What great advice because when you love something, you have a passion, you’re not going to just work for the money, no, you’re going to work because you want to do something special.
The album is also a good excuse to go on stage. It’s been three years since you came to France. What does it mean to go on stage, in France, with a French audience that has totally adopted you?
France has always been an extraordinary country for us. That’s why we are very happy to have so many dates in France. It’s like a love story between the French and us. A love story between a French audience and a German rock band, the Scorpions.